“You know what, it will all be fine, Ian,” Eloise said and smiled. Ian just nodded in return.

“I have to go now, but just know that a director like you is precious to this industry. Do not feel demotivated by what they say,” Eloise said in a low tone.

After saying that she stood up and left the office without turning back. Ian, on the other hand, was thinking about too many things. He so desperately wanted to prove how wrong William was and wanted to prove his innocence to everyone. He wanted to achieve his goals in the industry, but for that, he needed to take one step at a time.

“Urgh, bad news,” Mason said while walking in.

“Did you try?” Ian asked, wanting to know how it went.

“Yeah, but the manager has been paid as well. Dude is like, we don’t provide records for strangers and stuff,” Mason walked around and sat in his chair.

Ian looked at him for a while and replied, “Are you sure he has been paid?”

“Yeah, I’m very sure. I don’t know what to do anymore, because if we can’t prove that we are not racists, you sure are going to end up in jail,” Mason said while still scrolling through his phone.

“Pay him more,” Ian said.

“Huh?”

“Pay him more than what they paid, uncle. I’m sure at first he would reject, but there will be a point where he breaks. Till then, be persistent,” Ian said while looking straight into his eyes.

“I know how things work, Ian. You don’t have to say,” Mason said and shook his head. They both were stressed and finding ways out. “I think I have an idea…” Mason said after a while of thinking.

“What idea?” Ian asked, listening closer to what Mason had to say.

“Let’s try to get into the chit-chat show. You know, it is very famous nowadays. They normally invite almost every person who runs in the current Hollywood topics. Do you remember the invitations we got last week from many channels?” Mason asked with a frown, and in return, Ian nodded.

“Let’s see if they invited us too, I saw that they talked about La La Land. And… Wait a minute,” Mason kept his phone away and opened the laptop.

He looked into the people who had invited Ian to be on talk shows and a smile formed on his lips, “Just like I thought. This is going to be easy, as I think, Ian. We are searching for CCTV and everything just to spread the word by yourself that what happened that day isn’t something you should be accused of, right? By this talk show they will know it when you say it by yourself,” Mason said. “In fact, chit-chat always looks out for hot gossip in the industry, this is a win-win. If… We got the CCTV footage, it will be even easier.” Mason said and started typing an email right away to send to the talk show.

“Yeah, you are right. We will clarify this with the footage. Try to pay the guy, and if nothing works out, I have another way. Which I didn’t really want to use, but now I have no choice,” Ian said while looking at the wall. “I’ll go home now, keep me updated,” he said and walked away.

[...] After going home, he saw Valerine who was still mopping the staircase. She was wearing her maid uniform and looked tired as ever. Noticing Ian’s presence she smiled and greeted him.

“I thought you wouldn't be here this early, sir.” She said and started cleaning quickly.

“Yeah, I had to come. You should take a week off, Valerine. How long has it been since you last took a vacation off?” Ian asked with a smile. It was genuine.

In fact, during all of his days, Valerine hadn’t missed a single meal to provide Ian. She has always tried to keep everything clean from his clothes to the massive mansion. The library would always be messy after Ian stopped doing his work there, and the next day, no matter how messy his brain would be, once he reached the library, Ian would feel peace. And it was in fact, her doing.

“That’s… So thoughtful of you, sir. I will take the next week off, it might be a good week to spend some time with my family,” She said while smiling by herself. Even the thought gave her a smile. “Uh… By the way, sir…. I saw the news and many were accusing you of racism. It can’t be true, right?” She asked.

“Everyone will know soon,” Ian said and walked away to find what he was looking for. Watching Ian walk away, Valerine silently prayed that everything would be fine soon. She had a brief idea of how tough Hollywood can be.

[...] After going to his room, Ian was looking for his old phone. In fact, the previous body owner had changed his phone every now and then. Due to that, Ian had to turn the entire room upside down. The search started from a corner of his bedroom and ended in the closet.

Opening the last drawer of his dressing table, he saw two phones which just sat there in the cold and dark. Picking up both of the phones he tried switching them on and seeing if it would be possible to find what he was looking for.

The phone which was in his right hand switched on instantly and showed,

3% battery. The phone will turn off in 30 seconds.

Seeing this, he stood up and ran to find a charger that might suit the pin. Since his current phone and the one in his hand were from the same company, Ian was happy knowing his charger would fit into the phone pin.

Keeping the phone on, he started looking at the phone's information to see how old it was and if it could help him in his situation. It was perfect, he thought. The next thing Ian did was to scroll down in the contact list to find the person he was looking for.

Mrs. Boye.

Bingo. Ian felt a smile creeping its way to his lips. He instantly tried to call the number. It rang once. Twice. Thrice. The line went blank. Yet, Ian tried again. After four tries, it seemed that someone else’s voice came up from the other end.

“Hello?” It was a female.

Since there was a high possibility that she changed the number, Ian wanted to make sure that this is her. Yet, he didn’t even know what her name was.

“Hello, who is this?” She asked again.

“Mrs. Boye?” Ian asked.

“Huh? Who are you? I’m not Mrs anymore, it’s Diandra. Is this someone from Jasmine’s school?” She asked quickly.

“I’m Ian. Ian Renner, remember me?” Ian asked with a smile that she didn’t obviously see.

“Who? I- I don’t remember anyone with that name, I’m going to h-”

“I want to prove that your ex-husband is wrong. I want to prove my innocence.” Ian cut her off shortly knowing she would hang up, and the chance might be spoiled if he said a wrong word.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have so many other things to do, sir. Can you call another wrong number by changing the digits and have fun?” She asked and was sounding angry for some reason.

“One million is at stake, Diandra. I’m offering you that much just for proof that I did not punch your ex-man for a reason that sounds absurd to me,”

Hearing what Ian said, she stopped talking for a while. The line was silent and no words were exchanged.

“Is this some kind of a prank?” Diandra asked with hesitation in her voice.

“I don’t and won’t have the time or strength to play a prank with my reputation, unlike your ex-husband. You can in fact look up how much my previous movie made, that would make it clear to you that I have that much money. I just want proof,” Ian muttered. The more he remembered that he was trying to prove his innocence, the more it was irritating for him. But he was trying to keep himself calm to not mess anything up.

“Give me five minutes, Ian,” She said and Ian heard a small thud which he thought that she left her phone somewhere and walked away. Ian sighed mentally and rolled his eyes.

-

“Guess who's here! The guy who's even more popular than our talk show! The director, scriptwriter, and nowadays… The one and only talk of the town, the man of the show… Ian Renner, everyone!” The host, Merlin Steve said and people in the audience clapped with no enthusiasm.

Ian was presenting himself in the chit-chat show which replied to Mason on the same day he asked if their request could be granted. Now in New York, Ian was sitting in front of a bunch of people, who looked both amused and confused. A black woman walked out as soon as she knew who the guest of the show was, that was how intense the environment was.

“Thank you so much for having me here today, Steve,” Ian said and smiled at the cameras.